World Series tickets could be at record cost for Game Six

With hours left before the Red Sox take on the Cardinals in what could be the last game of the 2013 World Series, fans in Boston are opening their wallets with one message: The chance to go to the game is priceless.

The cost, however, could be reaching record highs on secondary ticket sellers as the prices of tickets creep up to past $5,700 on TiqIq.com and Boston-based Ace Ticket, and more than a whopping $12,000 on StubHub.com. Prices for cheaper seats start at around $700 on all of the sites, though for much of Wednesday weren't floating below $1000.

"I'm surprised how inexpensive they are," said James Holzman, the CEO of Ace Ticket and a lifelong Red Sox fan. "I agree it's a fair amount of money but it's $1000 for a lifetime memory and there's no pricetag that you can put on that."

As Time.com pointed out, the prices of even the least expensive seats have more than doubled from last week's game when bleacher seats were available for a mere $300. With the chance to win the whole thing and a city that is wealthier than many, said TiqIQ.com CEO James Lawrence, it's not surprising that fans are willing to shell out the price of two car payments to go see the game.

"The cost of living in Boston is higher than most cities and that certainly plays in (to the price)," Lawrence said. "I think it's the perfect storm of that and the fact that it is the Red Sox." Lawrence adds that there are 6,000 less seats in Fenway Park than most stadiums, making the supply even lower.

A spokesperson for StubHub.com said that for the series as a whole, secondary prices on their site were around the same as last year. This game, however, has seen a noticeable increase. "This is StubHub's most popular event on our site by far, followed closely by Game 7, approaching record-breaking numbers," the spokesperson added in an email.

What perhaps is most impressive about World Series tickets is that the face price is about $600 lower than Super Bowl tickets, which went for an average of more than $4,000 in 2012, the last time the Patriots appeared in the game. The cheapest face price tickets for World Series games run about $125, meaning that even the cheapest tickets are being marked up nearly 600%.

Despite the large amounts of money fans stand to make off of selling their tickets and watching the game from a bar, ticket sellers have found few fans willing to part with their possible seat to witness history. Holzman said one fan tweeted at the TiqIq account to ask if he was foolish not to sell tickets. After he said that there would be no fees, the fan had quickly gone back on the idea.

"He replied to that 'not a chance' … in the time I wrote that tweet, he had already made up his mind about whether he would and whatever the number is that he would have made … 800 bucks assuming it was the cheapest ticket and not even a thought," he said. "I think it's a kind of thing that is truly priceless especially for Red Sox fans."

It's possible that the prices that the tickets are going for now may not even be the cap. Holzman believes if it goes to another game, the prices will continue to climb as Cardinals' fans come into town for the last minute and try to snatch up tickets as well. Despite the large amounts of fees he could collect, he said he's hoping the Sox can close it out tonight.

"It doesn't get any bigger [than this]," he said. "Your team can win the World Series in front of you. It just doesn't get any bigger."